Homemaking Skills that I Lack

2.21.2012

Homemaking skills. Whether you are a stay at home mom or dad, single or married, working full time or part time, living alone or with roommates...these are the skills needed to run a household. At some point most everyone is going to have to learn how to do their laundry, clean their toilet, and buy groceries. They may even have to learn to do it for more than just themselves.

I think I've always been pretty self-sufficient in most homemaking areas. My mom taught me how to cook and clean. She taught me how to iron a dress shirt. I can sew on a button. I can tell if a fruit is ripe or not. Whether I choose to change my bedsheets once a week or once a year, I at least know how to do it.

But I have a bit of a confession. Ihave zero planning savvy when it comes to food.

I work full time and live in an apartment with a tiny kitchen. I only have two mouths to feed. Maybe I don't really need planning savvy yet. Maybe it will be learned naturally someday if I'm a stay at home mom with a slew of kids to feed. But to be honest I am completely jealous of my friends who are good at this and I wonder if they were just taught these skills all along or if they figured it all out as adults.

In college I had a roommate who was really good at prep work. She would buy in bulk, freeze, bake from scratch (always having plenty of supplies) and did it all with less trips to the store and less money spent then the rest of us.

I've never been good at buying in bulk. I try to plan my meals ahead and buy them for the week but things seem to never be as much as I thought and often my produce goes bad before I get to it all. I spend too much and too often.

I don't know how to can vegetables. I've never tried to bake bread. I don't have a very big freezer. I only know how to make soup in a crock pot. And I'd be totally lost trying to garden.

I don't know how this happened. My mom and dad always had a garden. My mom canned. My mom baked bread. My mom planned meals. My mom did a produce co-op and always had bulk vegetables and fruit. I learned a lot from her and my grandmother, but apparently I never really learned the planning stuff.

Now, I can call my mom to ask how to do things. I can google recipes and how-tos. But what I really want is someone to teach me hands on how its done. Someone to show me how to can and to start my garden with me. Can the Pioneer Woman come stay with me for few days?? No??

Okay okay, I don't need Ree. I'm pretty good in the kitchen and ahead of most in the homemaking skills arena. I think I'll be able to teach myself the stuff I don't know. But for now, I just have to admit I lack certain homemaking (and post apocalyptic survival) skills.

1 comment:

I know the feeling. I don't feel so good at homemaking, mostly because I just don't like the majority of it! Most women who I see who I think are really great at it enjoy it and therefore thrive at it, but really I have many of the same skills, just lack the ability to be consistant with them (because I would rather not do them)! There have definitely been periods in my life where I think, wow I finally got it! But then I seem to lose it again. I do try to meal plan as often as possible, which I HATE, but it is worth the effort. I have planted two gardens since having kids and the only things that survived were squash and zucchini (this is because they need nothing but to be planted in order to survive). Unfortunately, a garden is not going to happen for me this year, but I think now that Aiden is older and can help and learn with me, I'll enjoy it a lot more. Maybe next year. :) Good luck with your homemaking endeavors and congrats on your new little one!